1. INTRODUCTION
1.5. The plan of the subsequent work
So far I have (i) specified the basic question which my own approach to the Laws, the systematic approach, is intended to answer, (ii) clarified the problematic in which it has taken shape, viz., the democratic, legal, and demiurgic approaches, (iii) glossed a representative selection of views of the dialogue from the secondary literature, (iv) conveyed the essence of the systematic approach with reference to examples from the subsequent document, and (v) explained why it represents an advance with respect to each of the democratic, legal, and demiurgic approaches, (vi) as well as its relation with the existing secondary literature. In what remains, I would like to (vii) sketch a roadmap of the dissertation that follows.
The following document attempts to give flesh to the systematic approach outlined above. To do this, my analysis takes the form of a series of three linked investigations into various aspects of the life of the city described in the Laws. First, I examine the various electoral processes used in the Laws (2-3). Second, I analyze the
ways in which Plato theorizes or attempts to control potentially turbulent forces of culture operating outside the reach of the law (4-5). Third, I examine the institution of the
“nocturnal council” and argue that it does not pose a counter-argument to the systematic approach (6-7).
43
1. Since conforming to a set of electoral procedures epitomizes the system model of government, it is important to undertake an examination of the electoral processes in the Laws. To start, I argue that Plato – by explicitly restricting the electorate to members of the military and abundantly distributing religious signifiers and paraphernalia
throughout the electoral process – seeks to model the political culture of elections in the city on the military ethic and religious sensibility native to it. The anti-anarchical ideology encoded in these forms of life encourages citizens to make their electoral
decisions in a responsibly social way (2.3.1-2). In addition, I show how elections function
to educate and improve the electors themselves via the presentation of certain edifying and informative spectacles as part of the electoral process (2.3.5). Finally, I argue that
Plato’s judicious use of election by lot promotes solidarity and fellow-feeling among the citizenry without, however, compromising the quality of those ultimately selected (3.2).
Furthermore, I demonstrate how the special format of the voting tablets in use forces voters to contextualize their votes with information Plato thinks relevant (2.3.3);
how Plato uses a careful framework of incentives to manage voter apathy (3.1); and how
electoral procedures in the Laws synthesize the individual contributions of heterogeneous actors into a collective result as part of an intelligent process superior to its individual constituents (2.3.4).
2. Next, I investigate from a systematic perspective the extent to which Plato takes “culture” in the broad sense — i.e., the ways in which large groups of people influence and are influenced by one another in accordance with patterns of interaction which they themselves dictate — as an object of political-philosophical attention. Specifically, I point to Plato’s deep concern in the Laws with self-propelling cycles of
44
influence which possess the potential to harm, destabilize, or destroy the city, as well as Plato’s attempt to mitigate, curtail, or recuperate those tendencies as part of the self- regulation of the city. To do this, I examine the ways in which, for Plato, the freedom we possess to consort with whom we wish or consume which art we wish risks setting into motion patterns of positive feedback culminating in societal catastrophe (4).
Given the dangers above, I next canvass the various strategies of cultural
management to which Plato has recourse for his city. I show how Plato makes the proper design of customs, usages, and practices in a city a crucial desideratum of political theory responsible for the stability of law itself (5.2.1); institutes various preferred patterns of
interaction among citizens he judges most beneficial for the creation of an intelligent and resilient culture of virtue (5.2.2); and insists that the distribution of honors and status-
predicates adorning the public life of the city be arranged in a way conducive to the flourishing of the city. In addition, by insisting that certain classes of public misdeeds be corrected or punished on the spot by bystanders, Plato nips in the bud potentially noxious chains of influence (5.3). Finally, I examine how diverse policies that Plato puts into
place — the requirement that devotees of music and theater actively participate in the regulation of these things, the integration of women into the communal life of the city, and the ban on private religion — all have the effect of rooting out potentially threatening pockets of cultural autonomy and subjecting all important spheres of life to public
scrutiny, shared appreciation, and common participation (5.4).
3. Finally, I consider in particular one of the most interesting institutions in the Laws — the mystery-shrouded “nocturnal council.” This council meets every morning at dawn and includes many of the powerful officials in the city. It pursues a special
45
curriculum of science and philosophy similar to that studied by the philosopher-kings of the Republic and is suggested to possess wide-ranging powers similar to theirs (6). At
first glance, this institution poses a significant challenge for the systematic approach: after all, does the nocturnal council not, in the final analysis, constitute a kind of “cadre” situated at the heart of the Laws? I argue that a careful reading of the relevant passages in Book XII does not support this judgment. Not only is the nocturnal council not
incompatible with the system model of government, but indeed, it performs a vital function vis-à-vis the research and circulation of necessary knowledge (including the study of other cities or cultures) within the system. The nocturnal council is better characterized as a non-coercive engine of civic improvement functioning within a mutually supportive ecology of institutions than as a shadowy cabal invested with absolute power. Properly understood, the members of the nocturnal council are not philosopher-kings, but philosopher-consultants (7).
46